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I know, it’s hard to imagine the 6-foot-2, 215-pound kid with the rocket arm and smooth demeanor doing anything other than playing quarterback in St. Johns County. Yet, it wasn’t so long ago that Peterman was spending his time after practice crying in the back seat of his parents car instead of breaking down film on a Saturday morning.

But as the late John Wooden once said, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

And as Peterman would do so often in his storied career, he took that opportunity and hit it in stride as well.

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Peterman, the

St. Augustine Record

St. Johns County Football Player of the Year, threw for 36 touchdowns during his final season, a total which ranks second in county history behind Tim Tebow’s 46 in 2004. Think about that. The only man ahead of Peterman is one of the most famous athletes in the world, a Heisman Trophy winner and a first-round NFL draft pick.

Not to mention, he did so in limited playing time as the Bears routed nearly every team they faced en route to a 12-2 season. He also carried Bartram to its second state semifinal appearance in school history, having one of his most brilliant and disappointing games in his career against second-ranked and eventual state champion, Seffner Armwood. He threw for 369 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions in the 46-38 loss.

Oh, and by the way, he’s headed to play football at Southeastern Conference program Tennessee next year. So it’s easy to say that Peterman has a firm spot in the Mount Rushmore of county athletes.

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Pop Warner football can be a great place to start careers and an equally effective one to end them. Peterman came dangerously close to falling into the latter of those two categories.

When he was in fourth grade, he followed his brother, Aaron, who would end up playing offensive line at Bartram, into the sport and into the same position.

Coaches put the tall, well-built Nathan on the line and at linebacker. He spent a season there, frustrated and hoping for a chance that nobody was willing to give him.

“I would tell him to sit back and learn to appreciate everything the line does” his father, Chuck, said. “He hated it, though. He wanted to play a skill position, and every day he would cry in the car on the way home. He was just so competitive with everything he did.”

After that season, Nathan decided to give up on football and turn his focus to basketball. Chuck wanted him to spend his energy on only one sport, and Peterman was a budding point guard, a position that allowed him to exercise all of the qualities he valued. Peterman was a natural leader. His father said he had a gift for seeing passing lanes and anticipating when his teammates would break open. He also, even at a young age, had a way of dealing with his peers that made him appear more like a coach than a player.

This gift didn’t go unnoticed.

Current Bartram position coach Steven Briggs saw how Peterman carried himself on the court and decided to offer him an opportunity.

He was starting a third Pop Warner team known by other squads as the “leftovers.”

“We took the kids who weren’t picked for the first or second teams,” Briggs said. “There were only three kids on the whole team who had ever played football before. I just told his parents, ‘I can’t guarantee where he will play, but I can guarantee he won’t put his hand in the dirt.’”

Peterman slotted in at quarterback right away as a fifth grader. Two of his future Bears’ teammates, Jolen Briggs and Ryan Shamlaty, were also on the team.

Otherwise, the group was so pieced together that most of the team would cry while running drills at practice.

“The first practice the kids came and I had them run a lap to get loose,” Steven Briggs said. “I had no coaches. Nobody that has ever even played. I looked around and all the kids were crying. Jolen, Nathan looked at each other and said 'This is going to be a tough year.'”

That was the first hurdle Nathan left in the dust. The White Bears, as they were officially named, went on to knock off the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in St. Johns County, including All-County running back Gabe Johnson’s squad in the playoffs and reach the city title game where they would eventually lose.

“That was it for him,” Chuck said. “He knew exactly what he wanted to do after that.”

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Peterman’s ascension was rapid. Bartram coach Darrell Sutherland knew Peterman was going to be something special before he even arrived on campus.

Aaron Peterman was in his senior season when Nathan took the reins of the junior varsity squad as a freshman.

Nathan led the team to a 5-2 record, including a win over St. Augustine.

His first varsity appearance actually came in the Bears’ opening game of the season, a 56-6 win over Ponte Vedra. He threw one pass: a 1-yard touchdown to Ryan Irish.

Aaron, a starter, begged Sutherland to allow him in for the play so he could celebrate with his brother — a moment friends still rag on him for.

“We had this celebration as brothers,” he said. “People laughed at us when we watched it on tape. But I was happy I was there when it started.”

Peterman was 2 for 2 that season. The rest of his career has looked like the graph of an extremely successful company.

He had seven touchdowns and nine interceptions as a sophomore; 20 scores and six picks as a junior and 36 and 10 as a senior.

“He’s such a hard worker at his craft,” Sutherland said. “You could see from Day 1 what a competitor he was. One thing that really impressed me is that I would come in on Monday, and he would already have plans about what we should do in the next game. He was always trying to get better.”

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Nathan’s competitive nature is legendary in the Peterman household. Chuck likes to tell the story about when Nathan was 2 years old, he would resort to any tactic necessary to beat him in a wrestling match.

“He would literally spit in my face,” Chuck said, laughing. “That’s how bad he wanted to win. Even at 2, he refused to let me win.”

Nathan has two older brothers — Aaron, who is now 21, and Ryan, who is 24. Both would push around their little brother like most siblings do, but Aaron was by far the worst.

Their most epic confrontations took place on the basketball court.

“When he started to beat me, I would get angry and start throwing him down on the pavement,” Aaron said. “That’s when I started to realize how competitive he was. He would wipe the blood of his mouth, look at me and shoot a 3-pointer right in my face.”

Nathan said those days on the court helped him get where he is today.

“They definitely toughened me up,” he said. “To be a quarterback, getting hit all the time and having to bounce back up. I think I learned a lot of that from getting pushed around by them when I was growing up.”

Nathan’s toughness is also a well-known trait. A perfect example came in his junior year when the Bears were facing Nease after a tough 14-0 win over Bishop Kenny.

One of his ribs was dislodged during the BK game, and Peterman spent the entire week leading up to Nease unable to practice.

He decided “a minute before” to play and struggled through a rough 16-7 victory, throwing for 199 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also lost 22 yards rushing on a series of painful sacks.

“That was just a wow moment for me,” Aaron said. “That was a miracle game. We didn’t think he had any chance of playing. For him to be able to gut that out, I think that said everything we needed to know about what kind of player he could become.”

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Peterman’s personality has never required him to earn his teammates’ respect. He’s easy going, supportive and nearly impossible not to like. He likes cerebral, thought-provoking movies, like "Inception" or "Déjà vu." He once got a reputation as an “Energizer Bunny” swimming on the Julington Creek swim team and enjoys playing the bass, fishing, skiing and golf.

In other words, he’s just another 17-year-old playing football. Still, that hasn’t kept him from a little hazing here and there.

During Peterman's freshman year, coaches would mess with him and his brother, by lining Aaron up at wideout and forcing them to complete wide receiver drills. If Aaron would drop the pass, which he often did, coaches would make the team do ups-and-downs.

“It was great because Aaron is such a quality guy, too,” Sutherland said. “For me, that’s one of the things I’ve really enjoyed about coaching at Bartram, is seeing guys grow up and come back to the program.”

In case his demeanor didn’t win people over, his first true game as a sophomore did.

Against Palatka in the opening week, it took Nathan only 23 seconds to orchestrate a 71-yard game winning drive. He was 3 of 3 passing on the possession and hit wideout Danny Sellers for a 15-yard score with 13.8 seconds left to give the Bears a 31-27 win.

“Sometimes I sit there and wonder, is he really that good?” Chuck said. “It’s a surreal feeling as a father sometimes.”

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In Nathan’s room there are four books on his desk that share two things in common: faith and football. In this way, he bears a lot in common with Tebow, who’s autobiography is included.

Chuck is a preacher at Creekside Christian Church as well.

“That’s a huge part of his life,” his mother, Dana, said. “It’s what keeps him grounded and helps him understand what’s really important.”

All of this helped Nathan stay focused when he was struggling through the recruiting process this summer. He was on a trip to visit Wake Forest when Tennessee called.

At that point, he had offers from Wake, Cincinnati and Connecticut. The family decided to turn the car and head the four hours to Knoxville.

“I was down at times,” Nathan said. “I wasn’t sure why things weren’t going the way I hoped. But everything suddenly worked out. I really think it was because I kept my faith and knew things were going to work out for the best. It was rough there for a little while, but in the end I think I’m happy with everything that’s happened. I’ve been truly blessed.”